Mad Hatter's Left Eye
by Mangetsu-Yuki
Summary: Break arrives at Cheshire's dimension and meets a girl who has been living there for quite some time and has been trying to escape over and over. After Break has his eye taken out by the cat, he and the girl plan for their revenge. - Please note that this is a work of fiction and the characters and/or plot may differ from the original. Enjoy!
1. I - An eye unable to see

Cheshire's House had lost all its spunk. To be honest, it never really was a dimension where fun and fairness reigned, but lately, the atmosphere had turned even more gloomy. The dolls that were usually laughing mockingly, now sat silently on their shelves, waiting to be shown a little bit of affection. The paintings on the wall patiently let time pass, longing for someone to remove the dust from the art that they were.  
In between all that stuff, all those possessions that lay within this house, there was me. I had been waiting too. I had done so for so long, I couldn't remember how many years had passed. Whenever I thought he would never return, I could see his face clear as day. Those two wine-red eyes would pierce through my being, even though they weren't actually there.

A long time ago, right before Cheshire gained his sight, we had our very first visitor. One I couldn't get out of my mind, no matter how hard I tried. As soon as I saw his white hair and red eyes for the first time, it was clear to me; this guy was a child of the Ill Omen. He looked as if he had no reason to smile, completely broken and utterly wretched.  
The look on his face made me wonder about what happened on the surface nowadays. The blue sky-ed, soft-sanded surface, somewhere I hadn't been for very long. The last time I was there, suddenly everything around me turned to darkness and I was sent to this dimension. Why I was here, or why I was alone were questions I hadn't been able to answer.  
"Where am I?" The first words he spoke were understandable ones. Every being would've asked the same question, wherever they would have been sent to. This could all have been solved so easily; I'd answer him and within a few minutes, he'd be back on the surface. Even though he couldn't see me, he'd still hear a voice that would guide him towards the didn't happen and everything that did happen next, was my fault.  
All because I couldn't speak.  
"Man, that must have been some fall I made, my head is still spinning." As the white-haired one put a hand against his head, a row of pointy teeth showed itself right behind him.  
I wanted to warn him, to do something in helping him to escape or hide, but all hope of rescuing this Child of Ill Omen faded as soon as Cheshire arrived. When the guy finally turned around, Cheshire had vanished, although I knew he was still somewhere around.

"Relax, Kevin, you're psyching yourself out." Poor guy, this wasn't some kind of hallucination, but he didn't know. The fact that he jumped up probably meant I wasn't the only one who had heard Cheshire's bell. "Who is there? Show yourself coward!"  
The bell, worn around the cat's neck, made a second noise and the guy now knew for sure he wasn't alone. "Who are you and where am I?" He screamed into the darkness, pulling out a dagger-like object. Cheshire decided that upon this guy's act of defense, he had to show himself.  
"What are you, human?" Cheshire's claws tried to reach for the one apparently named Kevin, but he almost lost them because of it. Looking back, being unable to see must have been horrible for him, poor cat. "Your name?"  
Kevin didn't make a single sound as he crawled towards the other side of the room. "Yes, I'm human, or what remains of my human soul. My name is Kevin Regnard. You are?" Him answering Cheshire resulted in his whereabouts being given away. Within a second the cat stood in front of him once again.  
"I am the Cheshire Cat, the owner of this house and host of the memories of the Abyss, it's very nice to meet you, Human Kevin." As he bow down exuberantly, Cheshire let out a mocking laugh, just like the ones the dolls in this room let out so frequently. His teeth showed themselves while bits were still shrouded in darkness. "I have a little favor to ask of you, human."

As soon as he had called out his dolls, I knew it was over. For a very long time, Cheshire had been blind, wearing a bandage around his eye sockets. He had always yearned for his sight to return and the candidate that arrived on a platter was one he just could not let go.

From that point on, Kevin had to learn how to live with one eye, he didn't have a choice. As he wandered around the empty hall, trying to stop the bleeding with his hand, silence was overruled by his voice. "I need to get out of here. Revenge, I want revenge. How do I get back at that filthy cat?"  
There, right in that hallway, where the white-haired deviant fell to the ground, I showed myself to him for the first time. Now that a part of his body was shared with Cheshire, Kevin should be able to see me. I really thought he would be shocked to see another human here. After all, I looked somewhat like a ghost, only less pale, as a result of roaming here for so long. But no, Kevin wasn't startled. He didn't scream and he never freaked out.  
"Ghosts, huh? I must be going completely mental." A tiny smile appeared on his face, leaving the impression he somehow felt peaceful. "Or maybe; are you here to kill me, to put me out of my misery?" Oh, how I wanted to tell him that I was here to help, I wanted to scream it from the highest point of Cheshire's house.  
But I couldn't.  
Not since Cheshire had stolen my laugh, my mouth. One of his dolls now possessed it and all that was left on that part of my face, was a string of black yarn, used to sow up the hole left behind. Because of my disability to speak, I could only shake my head, something Kevin understood right away.  
"Do you know how you got here, girl?" Again, I shook my head. As I stepped in front of him to lead the way, he tried to grab my wrist. Instead, all he got a hold of was air. His eyes shot wider while he looked at me, still not completely sure what I wanted. I couldn't blame him. This surface-roamer just had his eye yanked out of its socket and was trying his hardest to bear the pain.  
The grunting noise Kevin made as he tried to get up reminded me of an innocent puppy, trying to break free from a cage too small. There wasn't much more I could do for him, though. All I could try was to get him to escape from this hell-hole.  
"What is this?" I stopped for a second and found myself in shock as I looked behind me. "Is this yours?" The ribbon Kevin held in his hand was mine indeed, one I had lost before I even came here. While wanting to ask him if I could have it, I realized I still did not possess the ability to do so. Instead, I nodded, still trying to get him to follow me.

There it was, the door that could free Kevin from this horrible place. By now, he fully understood that I wanted to help him, instead of doing harm. There was something odd about him, though. While I guided him towards this point, he kept asking me questions. What my name was, where I came from, how I got here, all kinds of questions were fired my way. Right after asking them, Kevin seemed to recall I couldn't answer him and he would just stare in another direction.  
"I'm going to find a way to get you out of here, I promise." He sounded so determined when he said it, for a second there I believed him, only to find myself disappointed when the thought occurred I would never be able to leave this place. I had tried many times myself, but for some reason, I couldn't just walk out the door, unfortunately.  
Then, for the last time, I shook my head as tried to push Kevin through the door -even though my hands went right through him- back to the surface. Once more, he tried to get a hold of me, but again, he only caught air. Maybe I couldn't return to where I came from, but I wanted my existence to have meaning, to be able to help others.

As I wandered around the dimension I hated so much, I couldn't help but shed a tear over the one that had arrived so long ago. He was probably living a happy life on the surface, surrounded by love and affection. It was okay he hadn't come back for me, it really was. Still, deep down I hoped I could see him once again. The one who had given my life meaning, the one who now possessed my precious ribbon.  
The one who would later be known as _The Mad Hatter_.


	2. II - A mouth unable to speak

The pain in my left arm was almost unbearable. Defying Cheshire was something that didn't happen without the proper punishment, I had learned that. During all those years, while I waited for Kevin, Cheshire had been looking for him too. One eye wasn't enough for him and the cat probably wouldn't rest before he had both. The only problem for him was that Kevin had escaped long ago.

"I know it was your doing! Where did you sent him to?" Even if I intended to answer him, he knew I couldn't. "I don't exactly know how you managed to help him, you useless sow, but I will find out and when I do, you're in for some good old fashioned torture!"  
As I wanted to walk away, one of Cheshire's' claws only scraped my shoulder, but fully hit my arm. Even though I was a ghost-like human, the cat's power could still hurt me. His sharp nails had left deep marks all over my arm, leaving me bleeding. How a memory was able to bleed was still a mystery to me, but that wasn't my main concern. I had to stop this flow of red liquid somehow.

Even though I had roamed around this dimension for a while now, there were still aspects of it I didn't fully understand. Just when I was about to resort to desperate measures to stop the bleeding, it did so on its own. I decided not to think too much about this strange occurrence and sat down against one of the pillars in the main hall.  
Tears were silently flowing down my cheeks as I buried my head between my knees. It was a terrible feeling; I hated this uselessness that was taking over my body. Why was I sent here and why wasn't I able to exit through the door Kevin had used? Maybe even more importantly, why wasn't I able to gather some answers?  
The feeling of someone's thumb made me look up, scared that Cheshire wasn't done with my punishment. If that was the case, I wouldn't know if I would survive. If, in fact, I could die, which I wasn't sure of. But no, it wasn't Cheshire.  
"You shouldn't cry, gorgeous. I can't handle seeing you this sad, what happened?" When I looked up, the few tears turned into a small river which was gushing all over my face. There was a good chance this was the ugliest moment of my life, or what was left of it now that I was a prisoner in Cheshire's house.  
Even though I was ready to cry for an eternity, I suddenly stopped. As soon as I noticed the white hair and -now one- red eye, my heart filled itself with a blissful feeling. He was back, Kevin Regnard, the one who I had been thinking about for so long, he had finally returned.  
"I told you I'd come back for you, didn't I? I'm very sorry it took so long, but we had some trouble finding the right door that would lead to this dimension, please forgive me." Of course I was going to forgive him, he came back for me after all. I did wonder who 'we' were supposed to be, though.  
"Listen carefully, because I have some great news for you. I'm here with two companions of mine, Gilbert and Oz. We have found a way we can get you out of here, but it gets even better, you're going to get your smile back. I'll make that disgusting cat pay, no matter what!"  
Even if I would have been able to tell him what I felt, I knew I wouldn't be able to find the right words. Kevin's hand patting my crown gave me the feeling that whatever he had planned, it was going to work out. At least I hoped so. I had to come up with a plan of my own, just in case.

"So after I was sent back to the surface, I found another chain to forge a contract with. With that, I also changed my name to Xerxes Break. Trust me, it's a chain that can take care of Cheshire, I'm sure of it.  
Of course, I needed a place to live and the lovely Miss Shelly and her daughter Sharon took me in. Unfortunately, Miss Shelly passed away quite some time ago, but Sharon is still with us and even helping us to create a passageway back as we speak. Am I making sense so far?"

As I nodded, I noticed a tiny smile that seemed to be directed at me, it gave me chills. I hoped that me tapping Break's shoulder would ignite a second explanation. Luckily, it did.  
"You probably want to know how I'm able to touch you now, aren't you?" Me nodding exuberantly was all the information Break needed. He stopped in front of me and pointed to his back. "Hop on, I'll explain everything."

He was an illegal contractor, this white haired savior, it all made sense now. Because the contract was illegal, Break became a part of The Mad Hatter, thus being a chain, partially. That made him a part of this dimension, whether he wanted it or not.

"Here we are, we should wait for a few minutes, Gilbert and Oz should arrive soon." As I sat down, while leaning against Break's shoulder, I noticed something purple around his wrist. My eyes got bigger as soon as I got a better look, the purple ribbon I had lost was tied neatly and carefully around his left wrist. He had held onto it for all this time, it made me wonder why.  
A sudden flash in front of us made me jump up like a startled cat. The flash turned into some sort of bright passageway in the middle of the room. A blonde kid stepped out of it, followed by a taller guy with dark hair. For a second I was really scared, but as soon as Break calmly walked up to them, I knew they were the two guys he had spoken of, Gilbert and Oz.  
"Did you get it?" Break's voice turned so serious, so quickly, I wondered what these guys had been up to. It sounded as if it was very important. The blonde kid, who introduced himself as Oz, took off immediately after he greeted us, saying he had to get back to Sharon. Gilbert threw something Break's way and followed his younger friend.  
Right after both of them had left, Break started to mumble something. I wanted to know what he was doing, but I couldn't figure it out. It seemed as if he was performing some kind of magic ritual, but I didn't know for sure.  
Break's hair looked as if it was surrounded by a windy storm, it pointed in almost every direction and his clothes did the exact same thing. When the wind reached me, I felt how cold it was and started to shiver. The intruder with the white hair sounded as if he were hypnotized or something. His voice had something enchanting and powerful, but monotone in it.  
Finally, after a few minutes of hearing his gibberish, things suddenly turned quiet again, although that silence didn't last long. Within some mere seconds the tranquility of this hall was broken by me and by vocal cords. I screamed for as long as my lung capacity could take it, after which I buried my face in my hands. The pain I felt was indescribable, it was even worse from when Cheshire had performed the opposite ritual. Cheshire Cat... If only I knew a way to kill him for what he'd done, I'd do it.  
Instantly. Maybe I could try to make him recall the past. If only that would be enough to defeat him.

'I still don't understand how you managed to pull this off, you really are amazing, Kevin. I mean, Break.' I couldn't help but chuckle a bit over my own voice. It had been so long since I'd heard it, I wasn't even sure if it was mine to begin with.  
I was hoping I'd see Gilbert and Oz again; I couldn't wait to thank them for all their help. Break had asked them to retrieve the doll that had my smile, so that I could get it back with a magic ritual. And so it happened, I was once again able to smile. Even though he maybe couldn't have done it without the help of his friends, I owed it all to the white haired warrior, the one whom I had met all that time ago. Without Break, nothing would have changed here, nothing would have happened.  
And now he only wanted to do one more thing, fight one more battle. Cheshire wouldn't live long after this, Break and I both knew it. All we had to do was to come up with a cunning plan.  
As Break was passing back and forth, trying to find a plan that would work on the sly cat, I suddenly jumped up. 'I've got it!' My enthusiasm was hard to tuck away, but only because I was certain about my idea. 'I'm listening.' Break said smoothly. 'How are we going to make that one eyed fur ball pay?' I smirked. 'With a story from long ago.'


	3. III - A life unable to live

_'Hey there, neko-kun. I don't have any friends, would you like to be mine?' As a girl stroke the purring cat's belly, she smiled. The cat stood up and tried to grab the ribbon she wore in her hair. 'You do? That's amazing! Let's be precious friends from now on, okay? Let's promise to always be with each other!'_

_'Nee-san, where are you? Nee-san!' The little girl with the purple ribbons in her hair looked in every direction, hoping to find her older sister. 'Nee-san, everyone is worried, please come out!' As the girl proceeded her search in the backyard, she suddenly heard a bell chime. With enthusiasm, she walked in the sound's direction, as she heard the bell for a second time.  
Behind a tree, before her eyes, there was her sister, Alice. Alice was sitting against the tree, holding a purring cat in her lap. As soon as the cat noticed the younger sister, it showed its claws and hissed towards her.  
'Nee-san, everyone is looking for you, come back, okay?' The young one laughed sincerely, looking at the bigger sister she admired so much. 'I'll be there soon, go ahead without me.' Alice sounded different from her usual self. She sounded... Like her soul had been darkened.  
'I hate you so much.' Alice only had the courage to whisper the words after her sister had left. 'I hate your smile so much, it makes me want to take it away.' As she said it, the cat made itself more comfortable and started to spin. 'You agree with me, don't you neko-chan? She needs to die and lose her smile. If you can do that for me, do it, I'll love you forever for it.'_

'Are you okay?' Break's right hand rested on my shoulder as he crouched beside me. His crimson eye seemed to stare beyond my own, right into my soul. As if he tried to read my thoughts. 'Yes, I'm fine.' I nodded exuberantly and stood up, grinding my teeth. 'I was just reminiscing, don't mind me.' Break let out a slight chuckle and got up as well. 'Then there is nothing more to do than to find that scaredy-cat. Are you ready for this final fight?' Again, I nodded and our eyes met once more. 'Let's execute that cunning plan of yours then, milady.'

'Ha, how foolish of you to return.' Cheshire was sitting in Alice's tiny room, surrounded by the creepy dolls they both loved so much. 'Now you're going to experience what's it's like to not only lose your eye, but your life as well. What to do with your head, I wonder. Maybe I'll make another doll out of it, in celebration of Alice's return.' He was seriously thinking hard about it, that arrogant cat. Break's eyes shot wider as he looked from Cheshire to me and I instantly knew what he was wondering about.  
'Alice has returned?' I didn't know if asking this would hurt our battle position, but I had to know. It would make all the difference if Alice had already returned to this place, it would make our fight much tougher and my plan futile. Cheshire didn't seem aware of this fact, or he had forgotten about it, because he answered us with a smile. 'Not yet,' he purred. 'But she will return shortly, I'm sure of it.'  
It took me a second to realize what my vocal chords were doing. As I listened to my own mocking laugh, I could hear Cheshire grinding his teeth. 'What's so funny?' He seemed sincerely angered and that anger quickly turned into rage. 'Don't you dare mock Miss Alice! I'll kill you!'  
Before the cat could fully swing his claws my way, Break had already interrupted. As he held of Cheshire with his bare hands, a black tornado emerged from behind us. 'What the-' I quickly jumped aside and stared at the chain that had appeared from inside the tornado. The white skulls decorating it looked ready to devour and as I looked over to my left, so did Break.  
The black tornado turned into a being I had never seen before. Not that I had never seen Chains, but I hadn't come across one so vicious-looking as this one. And as I pointed my attention towards Cheshire, I noticed that he was taken away by the chain too. Maybe he didn't know this one either, or maybe he did and he was scared. Both would be to our advantage.  
'M-Mad Hatter!' Cheshire took a step backwards and landed his back against a shelf with dolls, which came falling down one by one. It took the cat quite some seconds to recover from this apparent surprise, but as soon as he looked at the dolls, he regained his fighting spirit. 'Get him!' He yelled. As the dolls came flying our way, I looked over at Break, knowing they would try to take him out first. The white haired one wasn't intimidated one bit, though and I would soon find out why.  
A single swing to the right had been enough to wipe out all the dolls at once. I could feel my jaw drop and a second laugh escaped my mouth before I knew it. 'You know, I should thank you.' Break slowly approached Cheshire, who now stood with his back against the wall. 'If things hadn't gone the way they did last time, I would have never been able to seal a contract with the Mad Hatter. If you think about, you have dug your own grave the second you took my eye. So thank you, you dense cat.'  
'I-I can't. I can't lose. I can't lose!' Cheshire's scream seemed like that of a stray cat, one who's desperately trying to find a home. Even though I wanted him to die, it still broke my heart to hear him be on this level of despair. 'I will not lose! I will fight!' The cat now randomly slashed away at Break, who dodged without ever really trying. At one point, Break intercepted a slash and grabbed the cat's arm tightly. 'Now, let's see how you like it if I take something of yours.'  
With the least bit of effort, Break undid him of his left arm. As Cheshire cried in pain, Break approached him once more. When he seemed ready to deliver the final blow, I saw something that could only mean bad news; the smirk of a vicious cat. 'Break, watch out!' Before the white haired one could respond, he had already been cut. Cheshire laughed it out as I rushed over to Break, hoping that the blood coming from his chest wasn't connected to a serious wound.  
'Ha! See, you mortals can never defeat me, for I am Alice's most precious friend, Cheshire cat!' 'Hmpf.' I let out some air through my nose and stood up, knowing Break would survive the attack. Cheshire seemed surprised, but didn't lose his composure this time. 'Foolish girl, what do you think you can do against me? Your one hope of escaping this place lies there on the floor, bleeding. This is it for the both of you.' He really seemed to enjoy this, that stupid fur ball. I would end that euphoria of his soon enough. I would take away the one thing he held dear and destroy him.  
'You dumb cat, you still don't get it, do you?' 'Hm?' Cheshire seemed intrigued, thinking there was nothing left that could cause him to lose. He was wrong. Dead wrong. 'Wouldn't it be a waste if it turned out that Alice would never return to you?' The hiss Cheshire let out gave me the hint that I had struck a chord. 'You do know she never intended to stay with you, don't you? Of course you know that, you called yourself her most precious friend.'  
'Shut up! You don't know anything! You're just Alice's little sister. The one with the terrible smile, the one who has to die! Alice and I made a promise when she was just a kid, she will always be with me and she will come back as soon as she can! Just shut up!'  
Cheshire looked as if he wanted to devour me, rather sooner than later. He would never get the chance, though. 'You know, you have a great memory there, but you forgot one important detail.' The cat's eyes shot wider and as I looked behind me, I saw that Break had been quietly listening to my story this whole time. He hadn't interrupted me once and he didn't intend to attack Cheshire anytime soon. Maybe he knew that my plan would succeed.  
'You never made that promise with Alice, you made it with me. She would never be able to really love someone and so she made you the empty promise of loving you forever if you took my smile away, whereas the promise of always being together was one _we_ made. I could never tell you because you had taken away my ability to speak or smile. Maybe if you had seen me smile like I did when we first met, you would've remembered. Isn't that right, neko-_kun_.'  
Cheshire fell to his knees and started to mumble to himself as his eyes started to look more empty by the second. 'Neko-chan, neko-kun. Alice, it's a lie, right? You were the one who loved me, weren't you? She's just trying to mess with my head. But, you never called me neko-kun, you called me neko-chan. I don't know! I don't know! Help me! Somebody!'  
The cat started to scream harder and his body seemed to slowly disappear as he swung his arm around. As I looked at it with big eyes, I felt a hand on my shoulder. 'Break! Are you okay?' He nodded and stared at the place where Cheshire had been a few seconds ago. 'Wh- what happened?' I looked at Break and he smiled quietly. 'You know what this place does to you if you give in to insanity?' I shook my head. 'You get turned into a doll. It's the fate of those who fall to despair. So never try to give up on the light, even if things seem rough. You don't want to end up in a place like this, do you?'  
No, I didn't.

We were almost ready, we just had to await the completion of the gate which Break had said wouldn't take longer than a few minutes. With the cat-like doll in my hands I looked at Break and smiled like I had done so long ago. 'Thank you, for everything.' He nodded and patted my head, putting something in my hair. As I touched it, my eyes nearly filled themselves with tears. I had both my ribbons, my smile and my precious friend back, all thanks to Xerxes Break.  
It would be scary to return to the surface after so many years, things would probably be a whole lot different. That didn't matter, though. For now I had a place to stay and get everything together. Break had said I could stay as long as I wanted and I gladly accepted his offer. Thanks to him, I had the strength to overcome everything and live towards tomorrow.  
As soon as Sharon opened the gate of course.

~ The End


End file.
